Revisiting Some Paintings

As I prepare for several shows that are scheduled for later this year,
I'm pulling out old paintings that are not ready for public viewing. 

Some of the paintings are incomplete, temporarily abandoned when I either hit the wall of frustration or allowed myself to be sidetracked by a newer inspiration.

And then there are the paintings that I had previously considered complete but now realize
that I could have/should have done a better job.

This painting, from a couple of years ago, falls into the latter catagory.   

A photograph in my pile of "Images for Art" provided the inspiration as did the movie 'Take Shelter', which features some dramatic, stormy skies.

If you haven't seen that movie, starring Michael Shannon, I highly recommend it.

I took some liberties with the image

and felt happy with my painting.

But....

a couple of years has made a difference with my perspective and presumably with my level of skill.

Looking at the old painting,

I now think that the sky is pretty dreadful.

The only thing that I do like is the thin band of light blue at the horizon,

otherwise.....

bleh!

And speaking of the horizon...

I now don't like how it is located almost at the center of the painting.

Moving the horizon up or down would almost certainly introduce a more satisfying dynamic to the image.

Also, the dark, stormy atmosphere wasn't working for me anymore.

With an abundance of conflict swirling around in daily news,

I decided I wanted this painting to take on a new personality.

I keep my camera in my car in case I see a sky that I want to remember and have quite a few images of clouds on file.

This particular cloud cluster over the football field of our community high school....

seemed like a good candidate to inform and guide me as I revised the stormy sky.

The horizon was dropped a bit.

The tire tracks shifted slightly.

The sky and the field brightened,

and the clouds became friendlier.

A little more work is needed,

but I'm feeling better about allowing this painting to be viewed by the public.

Also reworked...

this painting from a workshop a few years ago.

I abandoned it when I got frustrated with the shadows.

 As I recently looked at it with a more knowing eye,
I realized that I had created a scene where the sun was shining from both the left side and right side of the painting.

No wonder I was confused!

Thankfully,

I am now wiserer.

The shadows now make sense,

and I now like this a bit more....

maybe enough to allow public viewing.